SKC unveils highway construction training building
Berl Tiskus
Salish Kootenai College Board of Directors members JoJo Ducharme, left, Jim Durglo, chair, Jody Perez and Bob Fouty are on hand for the ribbon cutting of the Highway Construction Training Programs building.
Berl Tiskus
SKC student Bartholomew Owen Chief “drives” the simulator at the Highway Construction Training Programs opening.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
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PABLO — Eighteen wheelers, earthmovers and other machines, part of the $1.5 million school inventory, surrounded the new Salish Kootenai College building housing the highway construction training programs about half a mile south of Pablo on Old Highway 93.
Offering a blessing on the new building and its students, Elder Louie Adams said it was always an honor to face young people.
“You are tomorrow,” he said before his prayer.
Then SKC President Robert DePoe spoke, thanking all those involved in the construction project, who “put in a lot of hours and didn’t have a lot of time.”
He said he was very closely connected to the heavy equipment and truck driving programs.
Explaining, DePoe said, “My father was faced with an obstacle … supporting a young family.”
So his dad earned his Commercial Driver’s License and drove a truck as a way to feed, clothe and house his family.
Everyday tasks like flipping the lights on, turning on the tap for water, dropping a boat in a reservoir, going to a favorite hunting area or pond, all have laborers to thank for making roads, excavating, trenching and stringing wire and piping water.
This building represents “the spirit of our elders,” the laborers who did the work, DePoe added. “Whatever the obstacle was, they would overcome it.”
The name of the building is Nem Kw’Inuntm, Salish for “it can be done.”
“If you put in the time, if you put in the energy, if you put in the dedication, it can be done,” DePoe said. “That’s the spirit I wanted to portray.”
The program began in 1992 as a truck driving program with heavy equipment ordered in 1998. Its target population is Native American students from Montana’s seven Indian reservations and also the Pacific Northwest.
The program’s goals are to teach students the necessary skills, competencies and knowledge for entry-level employment in the highway construction industry, according to Robert M. Peregoy, director of SKC Career and Technical Education.
Attendees were invited to take a look at the new building, talk to some of the students and look at the simulators on which kids practice driving.
Logan James-Lee of Sitka, Alaska spent last year earning his CDL and is now studying heavy equipment. He’s one of the students who have been there longest.
Fort Peck resident Hunter Bighorn also earned his CDL and now is learning to drive heavy machinery.
“I had some of the basics and knowledge,” Bighorn said, so the coursework wasn’t entirely foreign to him.
He worked during the summer and has plans to attend the University of Montana and get his diesel mechanic certification.
In the award-winning program, students will earn their certification or endorsement in either heavy equipment operation; Class A CDL with tank, double-triple trailer and hazardous materials; OSHA training; or flagging.
For more information, call Shannon Ahhaitty at (406) 275-4017 or Dennis Talbot at (406) 275-4016.
